FANTASTIC BEASTS adds Jenn Murray

Following yesterday’s announcement that Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Saving Mr. Banks) has joined the cast, The Wrap brings word that fellow Irish actor Jenn Murray has signed on for a key role in Warner Bros.’ adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Jenn Murray, who starred on the BBC series “Truckers,” also appears in John Crowley’s upcoming drama Brooklyn.

Also set to star Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler and newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove, the David Yates-directed film follows Newt Scamander (Redmayne), the Wizarding World’s preeminent magizoologist, who in his travels has encountered and documented a myriad of magical creatures, ultimately leading to his penning the Hogwarts School textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

Sudol and Waterston are said to be playing sisters with Farrell set to play Graves, a wizard that Scamander meets in New York. Miller’s character, meanwhile, is said to be a rival of Scamander’s and the outlet notes that Jenn Murray and Miller are set to share some scenes. Wood-Blagrove, finally, was the winner of an international search for a young talent. Ten years old, the actress will play a character by the name of Modesty.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is being produced by David Heyman, producer of all eight of the blockbuster Harry Potter features; J.K. Rowling; Steve Kloves, who scripted all but one of the Harry Potter films; and Lionel Wigram, who served as an executive producer on the last four installments of the franchise. Rowling herself is supplying the screenplay.

Warner Bros. Pictures has the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set for a worldwide release in 3D and IMAX on November 18, 2016.